CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 4 octobre 2022

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font-size:10pt } .s391E78BA { font-family:Arial; background-color:#ffffff } .s3DB046A9 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic; background-color:#ffffff } .s164635C0 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; font-size:10pt; background-color:#ffffff } .s371C06D6 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; background-color:#ffffff } .s7C8EA9E6 { font-family:Arial; color:#202124; background-color:#ffffff } .sA8CC816A { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic; color:#202124; background-color:#ffffff }     THIRD SECTION CASE OF ANGERJÄRV AND GREINOMAN v. ESTONIA (Applications nos. 16358/18 and 34964/18)     JUDGMENT   Art 6 § 1 (criminal and civil) • Impossible under domestic law for lawyers to challenge their judicial removal from civil proceedings for allegedly acting incompetently, inappropriately, irresponsibly and obstructing the proceedings • Art   6 §   1 inapplicable • Judicial removal not constituting the determination of a criminal charge against the applicants or involving the determination of their civil right to practise their profession Art 8 • Private life • Ratione materiae • Negative effects of impugned removal not crossing requisite threshold of seriousness • Application of consequence-based approach   STRASBOURG 4 October 2022   FINAL   30/01/2023   This judgment has become final under Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Angerjärv and Greinoman v. Estonia, The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of: Georges Ravarani , President, Georgios A. Serghides , María Elósegui , Darian Pavli , Peeter Roosma , Andreas Zünd , Frédéric Krenc , Judges, and Milan Blaško, Section Registrar, Having regard to: the applications (nos.   16358/18 and 34964/18) against the Republic of Estonia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by two Estonian nationals, Mr Mart Angerjärv and Mr Maksim Greinoman (“the applicants”), on 2 April and 20 July 2018 respectively; the decision to give notice to the Estonian Government (“the Government”) of the complaints under Articles 6 and 8 of the Convention concerning the applicants’ removal from civil court proceedings and to declare the remainder of the applications inadmissible; the parties’ observations; Having deliberated in private on 21 September 2021, 11 January, 31 May and 30 August 2022, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on the last-mentioned date: INTRODUCTION 1.     The similar applications by two lawyers concern the fact that it was impossible for them to challenge decisions by which judges had removed them from court proceedings for obstructing the proceedings and for inappropriate behaviour, and the impact that their removal had on their private lives. THE FACTS 2.     The applicants were born in 1980 and 1979 and live in Viimsi and Tallinn respectively. 3.     The applicants were granted leave to represent themselves (Rule 36 of the Rules of Court). 4.     The Government were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Kuurberg, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 5.     The facts of the case may be summarised as follows.   The case of M r Angerjärv 6.     Mr Angerjärv (“the first applicant”) has been a member of the Bar Association since 2006. 7 .     In a civil dispute in which he was representing a plaintiff, the Harju County Court, hearing the case in a single-judge formation, had notified the first applicant in advance of a preliminary hearing that the statement of claim had not been sufficiently clear, thus impeding the court from ascertaining the factual circumstances and making a decision regarding the request to hear a witness. The court added that at the preliminary hearing it intended to assess the relevance of the evidence submitted and reject the evidence that had no bearing on the case. 8 .     During a preliminary hearing on 11   May 2017 the first applicant, as the representative of the plaintiff, disagreed with the court as to the relevance of certain evidence. He subsequently submitted an oral application for the removal of the judge, noting that the judge had threatened him, had relied on irrelevant documents, had rejected relevant evidence and had unjustifiably sided with the defendant. The court, in turn, explained that it would forward the application for the judge’s removal to the President of the Harju County Court and would send a notice about the first applicant to the Bar Association. 9 .     By a decision of 17 May 2017 the President of the Harju County Court dismissed the first applicant’s application for the removal of the judge. He found that the fact that the judge had been carrying out her role in the context of a preliminary hearing (clarifying the factual situation, the parties’ claims and the evidence they wished to submit in relation to those claims) and had explained why she had rejected certain items of evidence did not give grounds to conclude that the judge had been biased. He also noted that the judge had the right to remove a representative from the proceedings. In such a situation the judge was legally bound to notify the Bar Association of the removal. Informing the parties of the prospect of removal could not be considered to amount to a threat to the first applicant. 10 .     By a decision of 18 May 2017 the Harju County Court, in the same single-judge formation, removed the first applicant from the proceedings under Article 45 § 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure (“the CCP” – tsiviilkohtumenetluse seadustik ) (see paragraph 36 below) and notified the Bar Association of that decision. The court added that the first applicant had behaved inappropriately, incompetently, in bad faith and in a manner showing contempt of court. The court gave specific examples of what it considered to constitute such behaviour (such as the first applicant arguing with the judge about the need to clarify the statement of claim, wondering whether evidence could be admitted even if it was irrelevant and insinuating that the judge had had contact with the defendant’s representatives outside the proceedings). The decision was not amenable to appeal. 11 .     On 2 June 2017 the first applicant lodged an appeal against the decision to have him removed from the proceedings. In accordance with domestic law, the appeal was submitted via the Harju County Court (see paragraphs 41-43 below). The first applicant argued that the exclusion of the right to appeal violated his constitutional rights, and added that in his opinion it was possible to interpret Article 48 of the CCP to the effect that an appeal was possible. Moreover, he stated that under the CCP, decisions to impose a fine on a representative or to impose detention ( arest ) were amenable to appeal. In the event that the court should find that no appeal was possible, the first applicant asked it to declare Articles 48 and 660 of the CCP unconstitutional. He noted that he was no longer representing the plaintiff in the civil proceedings, as the latter had terminated the contract with him. 12.     On 5 June 2017 the Harju County Court, composed of the same judge who had given the decision to remove the first applicant from the proceedings, rejected the appeal, noting that the CCP made no provision for such an appeal. It did not consider the relevant Articles of the CCP to be unconstitutional. That decision was amenable to appeal. 13.     On 20 June 2017 the first applicant lodged an appeal with the Tallinn Court of Appeal. He repeated, inter alia , that the fact that it was impossible for him to appeal against the decision to remove him from the proceedings was unconstitutional, restricting his constitutional right to appeal, his right to property and his right to freedom of enterprise ( ettevõtlusvabadus ), and asked the court to institute constitutional review proceedings. He noted that as he was no longer representing the plaintiff, he could not challenge his removal from the proceedings by way of appealing against the judgment in the principal case. 14.     On 27 June 2017 the Tallinn Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and the application to institute constitutional review proceedings. As to the latter, the court explained that the restriction of the right to appeal against the removal decision had served the purpose of ensuring procedural economy and procedural efficiency ( menetlusökonoomia ja menetluse tõhusus ) and had been proportionate. The decision of the Court of Appeal was not amenable to appeal. 15.     On 12 July 2017 the first applicant lodged a further appeal with the Supreme Court against the decision of the Tallinn Court of Appeal and asked it to declare unconstitutional the provisions which excluded the right to submit the appeal in question. 16.     On 14 September 2017 the Court of Honour of the Bar Association decided to terminate the proceedings against the first applicant. It did not ascertain the existence of elements constituting a disciplinary offence ( ei tuvastanud distsiplinaarsüüteo tunnuseid ). 17 .     On 2 October 2017 the Supreme Court refused to examine the appeal. 18 .     The Government noted that the first applicant had continued to represent other clients in other court proceedings. In parallel to the proceedings forming the subject matter of the present case, he had also continued to represent the plaintiff in another set of civil proceedings. The first applicant did not contest that information. The case of M r Greinoman 19.     Mr Greinoman (“the second applicant”) has been a member of the Bar Association since 2005. 20.     In a civil dispute in which he was representing a plaintiff (a company), the Harju County Court, hearing the case in a single-judge formation, noted that during the proceedings the second applicant had completely changed the initial claim. During a preliminary hearing on 10 April 2017, the second applicant, as the representative of the plaintiff company, admitted that his client had withdrawn the initial claim and stated that he would lodge an application to that effect within a week. Subsequently the Harju County Court repeatedly asked the second applicant to lodge such an application. The second applicant did not do so. 21.     The second applicant lodged an application with the President of the Harju County Court for the commencement of disciplinary proceedings against the judge hearing the case (alleging that the court’s request that the claim be withdrawn had been unexpected). Shortly thereafter he also lodged an application for the removal of the judge (alleging that the judge had not been impartial when pressuring him to withdraw the claim). The judge herself also applied to the President of the court to have herself removed from the case, stating that although the accusations against her were groundless, her removal would be in the interests of the proceedings. 22 .     The President of the Harju County Court dismissed the plaintiff company’s and the judge’s applications for the latter’s removal, noting that the judge had merely carried out her role during the preliminary hearing in seeking to clarify the relevant claims in the face of the second applicant’s contradictory behaviour and could not be considered biased. He also dismissed the application to institute disciplinary proceedings against the judge. The second applicant’s further application to the President of the Supreme Court to have disciplinary proceedings instituted against the judge hearing the case was also dismissed. The President of the Supreme Court further observed that it had been the judge’s duty to clarify what claims the plaintiff company wished to lodge and on what grounds, and that the judge had done exactly that. 23.     On 10 November 2017 the Harju County Court found that the plaintiff company had, in substance, withdrawn the initial claims, and decided to discontinue the related proceedings. The plaintiff company appealed, arguing that the decision had been made by an unlawful court composition, owing to the fact that the judge should have been removed from the proceedings. The plaintiff company also reiterated that the judge was not impartial. The Tallinn Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, noting that the judge could not be reproached for trying to elucidate the scope of the plaintiff company’s claims as that was exactly the purpose of preliminary proceedings. The Supreme Court refused to examine a further appeal by the plaintiff company. 24 .     On 16 April 2018 the Harju County Court, in the same single-judge formation, decided to remove the second applicant from the proceedings. The court stated that the second applicant had been acting irresponsibly and dishonestly. Despite repeated explanations he had failed to formulate a clear statement of claim. During the proceedings for the judge’s removal, the disciplinary proceedings and the appeal proceedings he had recurrently made unsubstantiated allegations that the judge had unduly pressured his client to withdraw its claims. The second applicant’s behaviour had not guaranteed the protection of his client’s rights and had led to the proceedings being delayed. The decision was forwarded to the Bar Association. It was not amenable to appeal. 25 .     On 2 May 2018 the plaintiff company lodged an appeal via the Harju County Court (see paragraphs 41-43 below) against the decision to remove its representative – that is, the second applicant – from the proceedings. It argued that the removal decision been made without hearing the plaintiff company, had been unsubstantiated and had impinged on the plaintiff company’s rights to freely choose a representative. The decision had delayed the proceedings and brought about additional costs as the plaintiff company had had to find another representative. The plaintiff company asked the court to declare Article 48 of the CCP unconstitutional in so far as it did not provide for the possibility of appealing against a decision to have a party’s representative removed from the proceedings. In the plaintiff company’s submission, such a restriction violated the constitutional right of access to court and the right to appeal. 26.     On 7 June 2018 the Court of Honour of the Bar Association decided to terminate the disciplinary proceedings against the second applicant. It did not find that the second applicant had behaved inappropriately or had purposefully delayed the proceedings. 27.     On 8 May 2018 the Harju County Court rejected the plaintiff company’s appeal as it was not allowed under the relevant provisions of the CCP. The court dismissed the application to institute constitutional review proceedings, finding that the restriction on the right to appeal was in the interests of procedural economy, and was proportionate and thus constitutional. The decision was amenable to appeal. 28.     The plaintiff company’s subsequent appeal to the Tallinn Court of Appeal, in which it repeated its allegation that the restriction on appealing was unconstitutional (see paragraph 25 above), was dismissed on 12 October 2018. The decision was not amenable to appeal. 29.     On 29 October 2018 the plaintiff company lodged a further appeal with the Supreme Court, repeating its constitutional complaint. On 7   November 2018 the Supreme Court refused to examine the appeal; however, it noted that Article 48 of the CCP was not unconstitutional. 30.     The Harju County Court delivered the judgment in the plaintiff company’s civil case. The plaintiff company lodged an appeal and asked its earlier representative, the second applicant, to be readmitted to the proceedings. 31 .     On 29 May 2019 the judge hearing the case in the Tallinn Court of Appeal informed the parties to the proceedings that the second applicant had been readmitted to the proceedings as the representative of the plaintiff company. 32 .     The Government submitted that the second applicant, in spite of his removal from the civil court proceedings at hand, had continued to represent other clients in other proceedings.   RELEVANT LEGAL FRAMEWORK and practice Relevant domestic legislation Constitution of the Republic of Estonia 33.     Article 24 § 5 of the Constitution provides that everyone has the right of appeal to a higher court against a judgment rendered in his or her case, pursuant to a procedure provided for by law. Code of Civil Procedure 34 .     Articles 45 to 48 of the CCP are to be found in Chapter 7, entitled “Ensuring civil court proceedings” ( tsiviilkohtumenetluse tagamine ). Other than the measures outlined below, this chapter includes the possibility for the court to limit the number of people present at the hearing (in case the number attending hinders the proper functioning of the hearing) or to require compulsory attendance ( sundtoomine ). 35.     Article 45 § 1 provides that the court may remove from a hearing a participant in proceedings, or his or her representative or adviser, or a witness, an expert, an interpreter, a translator or another person present at the hearing who fails to comply with an instruction given to ensure order, or who acts in an improper manner in the court hearing or expresses contempt for the court or for other participants in the proceedings. 36 .     Article 45 § 2 provides that the court may remove from proceedings a representative or an adviser of a participant in the proceedings or may prohibit that person from making statements if he or she is not able to act in court in accordance with the relevant requirements, including owing to inadequate proficiency in the language, or if, in the course of proceedings before the court, the person has shown himself or herself to be dishonest, incompetent or irresponsible, or has, in bad faith, obstructed the just and expeditious hearing of the matter at the lowest possible cost or has repeatedly failed to comply with the orders of the court. 37 .     Article 45 § 4 adds that the court has the right to impose a fine or detention for up to seven twenty-four-hour periods on a person who conducts himself or herself in the manner referred to in Article 45 § 1 or on a participant in proceedings or a representative or adviser thereof who has, in bad faith, obstructed the just and expeditious hearing of the matter at the lowest possible cost or who has repeatedly failed to comply with the orders of the court. 38 .     Pursuant to Article 45 § 5, the court is obliged to inform the Bar Association in the event that a lawyer ( advokaat ) is removed, in accordance with Article 45 §§ 1 and 2, from a court session or from the proceedings. 39 .     Articles 46 and 47 provide respectively that a fine or detention may be imposed after the person concerned has previously been warned that the court may take such measures. 40 .     Article 48 provides that a person on whom a fine or detention has been imposed may lodge an appeal against that decision. 41 .     Article 660 § 1 provides that a participant in proceedings to whom a decision of a county court pertains ( määrusega puudutatud menetlusosaline ) may lodge an appeal against that decision with a court of appeal on condition that lodging such an appeal is permitted by law. 42 .     Article 661 § 1 provides that an appeal against a decision should be lodged with a court of appeal via the county court whose order is being contested. 43 .     Article 663 concerns appeals lodged against county court decisions ( määrused ). It provides that an appeal is to be submitted to a county court. The latter verifies whether lodging such an appeal is permitted by law, whether it has been lodged in time and whether it meets the requirements set by law. The county court may decide itself that the appeal should be granted. In the event that the county court considers that the appeal ought to be dismissed, it forwards it immediately to the court of appeal for examination. The county court’s refusal to examine the appeal is itself amenable to appeal. Bar Association Act 44 .     Section 16(5) of the Bar Association Act ( advokatuuriseadus ) provides that proceedings in the Court of Honour are commenced when, inter alia , a court has imposed a fine on a lawyer, has forbidden a lawyer to make statements in the proceedings ( keelanud advokaadil teha menetluses avaldusi ) or has removed a lawyer from the proceedings or from being entitled to legal aid. 45 .     Section 17(2) provides that a lawyer who is subject to proceedings in the Court of Honour has the right to: examine the case file; provide statements and raise objections concerning any issues which arise in the course of the proceedings; submit applications for the removal of a member of the Court of Honour or the person taking minutes if there are reasons to doubt their impartiality; submit evidence and applications and participate in the examination of evidence; put questions to individuals invited to hearings; and receive a copy of the decisions of the Court of Honour. Section 17(4) provides that the Court of Honour must establish all the relevant facts of the matter before it and, if necessary, collect evidence to that effect on its own initiative. The Court of Honour may apply for assistance from an administrative court in order to collect or secure evidence. Pursuant to section 17(5), the Court of Honour must give a reasoned decision regardless of whether a disciplinary offence is established. 46 .     Section 18 provides that an interested person may lodge an appeal with an administrative court against a decision of the Court of Honour. 47 .     Section 19 lists various disciplinary punishments that the Court of Honour may impose. These include: a reprimand, a fine, suspension of legal practice for up to one year, disbarment, revocation of the right to act as a bankruptcy trustee for up to five years and revocation of the right to act as a patent attorney for up to five years. Bar Association’s proposal for the amendment of the Code of Civil Procedure 48 .     On 22 August 2017 the Bar Association sent a proposal to the Minister of Justice for the amendment of the regulations concerning the removal of lawyers from court proceedings. It noted that the law, as it stood, did not allow any appeals against a decision to remove a lawyer from court proceedings. It noted that such a removal had an impact on the lawyer’s professional activities and could interfere with the parties’ right to a fair trial. Thus, either a client or a lawyer should have the right to appeal against such a decision. 49 .     The Minister of Justice replied on 3 October 2017 noting that the Ministry did not envisage any changes to the impugned regulations. The removal of a lawyer was considered to be a decision at the court’s discretion. When taking such a decision, the court had to take into account the adversarial nature of the proceedings. The fact that an appeal against such a decision was impossible was justified by the freedom to choose one’s lawyer, as well as by the absence of a statutory obligation to be represented by a lawyer in civil court proceedings. The purpose of civil court proceedings was to adjudicate on claims correctly and swiftly and at the lowest possible cost. The possibility of appealing against the removal of a lawyer would create a parallel dispute alongside the main proceedings that would not, in itself, help with the adjudication of the main case but would deal with the issues of whether and to what extent the lawyer had been dishonest, incompetent or irresponsible. If the client considered the removal of a judge to constitute a serious procedural violation, he or she could raise the matter in the appeal against the judgment in the main case. Relevant domestic case-law Concerning the removal of a representative from court proceedings 50.     The Supreme Court’s judgment of 27 May 2004 in case no. 3-3-1-16-04 concerned a first-instance court’s decision in the context of administrative court proceedings to remove a respondent’s representative following a request submitted by the applicant in that case. In those proceedings it was the respondent (and not the representative concerned) who appealed against the removal decision. The Supreme Court explained that the removal of a representative was a procedural decision that could have a significant impact on the ability of the participant in the proceedings to defend his or her position. As the law – in this case the Code of Administrative Court Procedure – did not provide for the possibility of challenging such a removal by way of appeal, it was important that the removal decision should carefully consider the statutory purpose of removing a representative from the proceedings, as well as all the factual circumstances, and that the decision should be taken in proceedings that secured the participants an adequate opportunity to make use of their procedural rights. In this case the Supreme Court found that the court that had to rule on a request by one of the participants for the removal of another participant’s representative had to grant that other participant the right to be heard and to comment on the possible removal before the decision was taken. 51 .     The Tallinn Court of Appeal considered in its judgment of 25   February 2013 in case no. 2-11-26347/59 that the defendants’ representative had lacked basic legal knowledge relevant to the case and had been clearly incompetent to represent his clients. The court explained that although the right to remove a representative laid down in Article 45 § 2 of the CCP had been established as a right and not a duty of the court, it should nevertheless be understood that the court had the duty to remove a representative if grounds for the removal were clearly present. Civil proceedings entailed the principle that participants in proceedings bore the risk arising from the choice of their representative. In other words, a participant in proceedings was responsible if the representative failed to perform a procedural step in time or failed to provide legal assistance with the necessary diligence or the required level of professional skills. However, if the incompetence and irresponsibility of a representative were manifest, participants in proceedings had to be protected from that representative, even if they had freely chosen him or her. 52 .     In its judgment of 12 October 2016 in case no. 3-2-1-94-16 the Supreme Court explained that the removal of a representative was a right and not a duty of the court. When removing a representative, the court had to take into account the adversarial nature of the proceedings and the fact that the parties were equal before the law and the court. When a representative was removed from the proceedings, the court could continue adjudicating the case as though the representative had left the proceedings voluntarily. This meant that the participant in the proceedings whose representative had been removed maintained the right to present his or her position in the proceedings. Possible errors by the representative could serve as a basis for possible claims by the client against the representative, but the incompetence of the representative could not, as such, bring about the quashing of the first-instance judgment. Concerning restrictions on the right to appeal and their constitutionality 53.     In its judgment of 12 April 2011 in case no. 3-2-1-62-10 the Supreme Court explained the meaning of Article 24 § 5 of the Constitution, noting that it enshrined the right of appeal subject to a simple statutory reservation (that is to say, the right could be restricted by law for any reason compatible with the Constitution). The provision permitted the legislature to impose on the right of appeal, by law, both procedural restrictions, such as the obligation to pay the State fee, procedural time-limits and the procedure for lodging an appeal, and substantive restrictions that excluded appeals against certain types of decisions (in particular, procedural decisions) for reasons compatible with the Constitution. Article 24 § 5 of the Constitution did not give rise to a right to contest all court decisions without any exceptions, and the legislature was competent to make distinctions with regard to the right of appeal depending on the nature of the court decision and relying on reasonable justification. 54.     The Supreme Court has on several occasions reviewed the restrictions of the right to appeal in terms of their compatibility with the Constitution. 55 .     For example, in its judgment of 25 March 2004 in case no 3-4-1-1-04, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional Article 191 (10) of the Code of Misdemeanour Procedure (in the version valid from 1 September 2002 until 31 December 2003) in so far as that provision had ruled out lodging an appeal against a decision by a first-instance court to refuse to examine a complaint. The Supreme Court explained that since the outcome of misdemeanour proceedings constituted a serious interference with the rights of a person, the possibility of review of final rulings – both judgments and decisions – reached in misdemeanour cases had to be seen as necessary. The court found, therefore, that procedural economy and ensuring the speedy resolution of a case, which were the presumed reasons for excluding the right of appeal, did not outweigh the damage to the legal order that could result from an incorrect decision in a misdemeanour case. 56 .     By a judgment of 30 April 2013 in case no. 3-1-1-5-13 the Supreme Court en banc declared unconstitutional and repealed Article 385 (26) of the Code of Criminal Procedure to the extent that it did not allow an appeal to be lodged against a decision of a county court judge in charge of execution of court judgments by which a sentence of imprisonment was to be imposed as a replacement for community service. The Supreme Court reasoned that in view of the impact that the decision to impose imprisonment had on fundamental rights (notably on the right to liberty of a convicted person), and taking into account the broad discretion enjoyed by a judge in charge of execution of court judgments, a higher court had to have the opportunity to review the correctness of the decision in question. 57 .     In a judgment of 30 March 2016 in case no. 3-1-1-24-16 the Supreme Court reached the opinion that the restriction whereby it was not possible to appeal against a court decision by which an accused had been removed from a court hearing was in accordance with the Constitution. The Supreme Court held that the right to participate in the hearing of one’s case could be restricted in cases and on grounds laid down by law, primarily in a case where the accused himself or herself either did not wish to participate or had caused a situation where he or she could not participate in the hearing of the case (absconding from the proceedings or violating order at a court hearing). The person’s right of appeal was not restricted disproportionately since in the subsequent proceedings the accused could rely on an arguable violation of procedural law in appeal or cassation proceedings. The legitimate aim of the restriction was the need to ensure the normal functioning of court proceedings in order to ensure the hearing of the case within a reasonable time.   THE LAW JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS 58.     Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.      ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 § 1 OF THE CONVENTION 59.     The applicants complained that it had been impossible for them to challenge the decisions by which they had been removed from court proceedings in which they had been representing their clients. The first applicant contended that he had been left without the “right to proceedings” ( õigus menetlusele ) and that he had been removed from the proceedings by means of an unreasoned decision which had been based on false claims. The first applicant also complained that his removal entailed clearly punitive features and that his removal followed his own application to have the judge removed from the proceedings. He also raised certain concerns as to the impartiality of the first-instance court in carrying out the preliminary assessment of the appeal lodged against his removal, as well as in relation to the judicial clerk ( kohtujurist ) involved in the removal proceedings. The second applicant complained additionally that he had not been given an opportunity to be heard before his removal from the proceedings by submitting his comments before the removal decision be taken. He also complained that the matter was adjudicated by a judge, who essentially prosecuted the applicant for what she perceived as a libel against her person, thus being simultaneously a victim and a referee. As he further complained, the minimum threshold of procedural safeguards had not been met and the applicant was illegally prevented from exercising his right to conduct his profession as a lawyer. The first applicant initially relied on Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention, whereas the second applicant relied on Articles   8 and 13 of the Convention. 60.     The Court reiterates that it is master of the characterisation to be given in law to the facts of the case (see Radomilja and Others v. Croatia [GC], nos. 37685/10 and 22768/12, §§ 123-26, 20 March 2018, and Molla Sali v.   Greece [GC], no. 20452/14, § 85, 19 December 2018). Having notified the parties accordingly, it considers that the applicants’ complaints about the impossibility of challenging the removal decisions, about not having been heard and about the alleged partiality of the court fall to be examined under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, the relevant parts of which read as follows: “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... by [a] ... tribunal ...” Admissibility of the complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention The parties’ submissions (a)    The Government 61 .     The Government contested the applicability of Article 6 § 1 to the circumstances of the present case. According to the Government, the matter in issue – the right of a lawyer to continue representing a client in an ongoing civil case – was not a civil right requiring protection in the framework of proceedings that related rather to the rights of the clients. The representatives were not parties to such proceedings, nor did they have independent rights in those proceedings. In such proceedings the courts had to proceed from the rights and interests of the persons being represented and to ensure that the civil disputes were solved justly, within a reasonable period of time and at the lowest possible cost. Removing a representative from the proceedings was one of the measures that the domestic courts could take in order to fulfil that role. As the removal of lawyers from the proceedings served the interests of the parties, the protection of the lawyers’ personal interests could not fall within the scope of protection of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, even if their removal had financial consequences for them as lawyers. Conversely, lawyers could rely on Article 6 § 1 in the framework of disciplinary proceedings against them before the Court of Honour of the Bar Association (following their removal from the proceedings), and in such cases the right to appeal was guaranteed under domestic law. 62.     The Government stressed the difference between disciplinary proceedings concerning the right to continue practising a profession and the circumstances of the present case. They noted that in the applicants’ respective cases, the effect of the removal decisions had been limited to the specific court proceedings that were ongoing or, in the case of the second applicant, to only one level of jurisdiction. A participant in proceedings whose representative had been removed could request that he or she be readmitted or complain about the removal when appealing against the judgment in the principal case. This had been done in the case of the second applicant, but not in the case of the first applicant. 63.     As concerns the first applicant, the Government asserted that – depending on the approach taken by the Court in respect of the second applicant’s obligation to exhaust domestic remedies (see paragraph 64 below) – his application could be considered to have been lodged out of time. 64 .     With regard to the second applicant, the Government argued that, unlike the first applicant, he had not challenged the constitutionality of the provisions which had not allowed him to contest his removal from the proceedings, and thus had not exhausted domestic remedies. It was only the plaintiff company that had lodged an appeal against the removal decision, alleging a violation of its own rights. The Government contended that the fact that the domestic courts had found the relevant provisions of the CCP to be constitutional in the series of appeals lodged by the first applicant was irrelevant. The second applicant could not have been aware, at the relevant time, of the decisions given in respect of the appeals lodged by the first applicant as they had not been made publicly accessible. 65.     In addition, the Government averred that the complaints submitted by both applicants under Article 6 § 1 were manifestly ill-founded or, alternatively, that they had not suffered a significant disadvantage. The removal from the proceedings, which in the case of the second applicant had been limited to the proceedings before the first-instance court, had not damaged the lawyer-client relationship and had not restricted the applicants’ other professional activities. (b)    The first applicant 66.     The first applicant argued that Article 6 § 1 was applicable and submitted that there were no other grounds of inadmissibility. The first applicant agreed with the Government that the right to represent a client was not a civil right that a lawyer should be able to protect in the framework of the main civil proceedings (which did not concern the rights of the lawyer but those of the client). However, he objected to the fact that despite having suffered serious material consequences due to his removal, there had been no possibility of separate proceedings in which his rights could be protected. The rights of lawyers should also be subject to a fair hearing, just like the rights of their clients. He stated that his removal had resembled a criminal punishment. 67 .     The removal decision had not been open to a challenge in any other manner except by means of instituting constitutional review proceedings. The six-month deadline for lodging the application with the Court had started running from when the Supreme Court had given its decision and the application had thus been lodged in time. The fact that the second applicant had been readmitted to the proceedings was irrelevant as such a possibility was not provided for in domestic law – the removal had been for the entirety of the proceedings at all levels of jurisdiction. (c)    The second applicant 68.     The second applicant argued that Article 6 § 1 of the Convention was applicable under its civil limb. Not only had he suffered loss of income for the work he had been unable to continue with, but he had also had to draft free of charge the plaintiff company’s appeals against the removal order. Moreover, his removal had undermined his reputation in the eyes of his client, his colleagues and the opposing party, as well as among judges. Therefore, even a one-off decision to remove him from the proceedings, followed by disciplinary proceedings, had had a significant negative impact on his ability to continue his work as a lawyer. He asserted that lawyers had a subjective right, which was also recognised in Estonia, to perform their professional functions without undue interference. 69 .     The second applicant also stated that he had not had any accessible and effective domestic remedies against the removal decision that he could have pursued for exhaustion purposes. He noted that the first applicant’s appeals against the decision by which he had been removed from the proceedings had been dismissed by the domestic courts and that the courts had found the limitation of the right to appeal to have been constitutional. Moreover, the appeals of his client, the plaintiff company, against the removal decision had not been successful. There was no reason to believe that had he lodged an appeal, it would have been successful. The Court’s assessment 70 .   The Government raised a number of preliminary objections to the admissibility of the applicants’ complaints, including an objection that they are incompatible ratione materiae with the provisions of the Convention. 71.     In addition, the Government raised preliminary objections concerning the question of exhaustion of domestic remedies and compliance with the six-month time-limit. Finally, they asserted that the applicants had not suffered a significant disadvantage and that their complaints were manifestly ill-founded. (a)    Compatibility ratione materiae 72 .     As concerns the applicability of Article 6 § 1, the Government argued that Article 6 § 1 was inapplicable to the proceedings in question, considering that they did not concern a “civil right”. By contrast, the first applicant considered that his removal from the proceedings amounted to a criminal punishment and the second applicant considered Article 6 § 1 to be applicable under its civil limb. 73.     The Court reiterates that, as the question of applicability of a particular provision of the Convention or its Protocols is an issue of the Court’s